As a dialect that existed almost entirely to be spoken, not written, Polari’s long-term survival was always going to be unlikely. Of course, there are records of it: Round The Horne is an invaluable resource for the language because it provides not only a record of the slang terms but also the context in which they would be used. Kenneth Williams’ diaries are another good primary source. But even with these records, Polari was in danger of being forgotten — or it would have been, were it not for the actions of a few dedicated people. a working class or blue collar sex partner or potential sex partner; a tough, thuggish or potentially violent sex partner The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English Dalzell and Victor (eds.) Routledge, 2006, Vol. II p. 1349

Baker, Paul (2003). Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-50635-4. This was important to not only to destigmatize homosexuality to the average British citizen, but to make queerness endearing. After discovering the vulnerability of Polari, Jez worked with Joseph Richardson on creating an iPhone app that allowed people to learn words of Polari. dorcas – term of endearment, ‘one who cares’. The Dorcas Society was a ladies’ church association of the nineteenth century, which made clothes for the poor.[citation needed]In 2012, I participated in a group effort to carry out the longest ever Polari Bible reading which took place in a Manchester Art gallery. In a nice touch of high camp we had to wear white gloves while touching the Bible, to ensure the oils from our fingers didn’t ruin the paper. We took turns reading lines such as: “ And the rib, which the Duchess Gloria had lelled from homie, made she a palone, and brought her unto the homie.” Translation: “And the rib which God had taken from man was made into a woman and brought to the man.” I was looking at how I could translate the Sexual Offences Act 1967 into Polari, but it tended to be a bit on the dry side.

Round The Horne was a huge landmark for queer representation in British media. The 1960s were an incredibly restrictive time for media in the UK, so for Julian and Sandy to be broadcast every Sunday as their unashamedly camp selves was notable. This helped to not only destigmatize homosexuality to the average British citizen, but to make queerness endearing. Punch and Judy. John Payne Collier; with Illustrations by George Cruikshank. London: Thomas Hailes Lacey, 1859. D'Silva, Beverley (10 December 2000). "The way we live now: Mind your language". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 July 2018. British comedian Kenneth Williams often spoke Polari in his performances on BBC radio and TV programmes in the 1950s and 60s, some of which had up to 20 million listeners at a time, introducing the language to a much wider audience. Watch the video above to find out more.Henry Mayhew gave a verbatim account of Polari as part of an interview with a Punch and Judy showman in the 1850s. The discussion he recorded references Punch's arrival in England, crediting these early shows to an Italian performer called Porcini ( John Payne Collier's account calls him Porchini, a literal rendering of the Italian pronunciation). [14] Mayhew provides the following:

In the Doctor Who serial Carnival of Monsters from 1973, Vorg, a showman, believing the Doctor also to be a showman, attempts to converse with him in Polari. The Doctor says he does not understand him. [24] Elmes, Simon; Rosen, Michael (2002). Word of Mouth. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866263-7.Polari also acted as a form of initiation into the gay subculture, with the older gay men teaching the newbies all of the words and "christening" them with their own camp name – Nathan becomes Nanette. Some Polari words labelled the technicalities of cruising, gay sex and various sexual identities – words mainstream society had not bothered to provide words for (or if they had, they were nasty ones); others gave new words for existing concepts. There are lots of words for types of people, occupations, body parts, clothing and everyday objects. There were also a lot of evaluative adjectives in it. It was ideal for gossip. Verbs concerned sexual acts, cruising or looking at people. Some (but not all) of the core lexicon words are:

drag – clothes, esp. women’s clothes (prob from Romani — indraka — skirt; also possibly from German – tragen – v. to wear (clothes))[citation needed] In 2023, Richard Milward's novel Man-Eating Typewriter was published. The novel is noted for being written almost entirely in Polari, in the form of fictional memoirs by the character Raymond M. Novak.

Rough Trade – A working class or blue collar sex partner or potential sex partner; a tough, thuggish or potentially violent sex partner. write [46] (either from Irish scríobh/Scottish Gaelic sgrìobh, Scots scrieve to write or italian 'scrivere' meaning to write) While there's no such need for a secret language for the LGBT+ community today, the same could not be said as recently as 55 years ago. Quinion, Michael (1996). "How bona to vada your eek!". WorldWideWords. Archived from the original on 7 September 2019 . Retrieved 20 February 2006. Since the mid-1990s, with the redistribution of cassettes and CDs of Round The Horne, and with increasing academic interest, Polari has undergone something of a revival. New words are being invented and updated to refer to more recent cultural concepts.[citation needed]